Mon Mar 13 14:30:44 EAT 2017

Trump's First 100 Days: Challenges from a U.S. attorney, McCain, the Freedom Caucus

Here's where things stand heading into Day 53 of the Trump administration: One of the criminal justice system's most powerful and well-respected prosecutors said he was fired by the Trump administration.

In Summary

That was the weekend's big headline. We are still coming to understand what it means.

Here's the backstory.

On Friday, we learned that the Trump Justice Department had told all 46 U.S. attorneys remaining from the Obama administration to submit their resignations as part of the wider government transition.

The Washington Post .Here's where things stand heading into Day 53 of the Trump administration: One of the criminal justice system's most powerful and well-respected prosecutors said he was fired by the Trump administration.

That was the weekend's big headline. We are still coming to understand what it means.

Here's the backstory.

On Friday, we learned that the Trump Justice Department had told all 46 U.S. attorneys remaining from the Obama administration to submit their resignations as part of the wider government transition.

At the time, Justice Department officials could not say whether Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, would also be forced to resign. Bharara had met with Trump shortly after the election to discuss his future and came away from the meeting thinking that he could stay on.

Friday's news put that in doubt, and Bharara said he sought clarification on whether the order applied to him.

On Saturday, he received a call from acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente asking why he hadn't submitted his resignation. The order did apply to him, Boente said.

A few minutes later, Bharara announced on Twitter that he was out.

"Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life," he wrote.

It's not unusual for new administrations to replace U.S. attorneys, although the Bush and Obama administrations did it gradually. But Trump's apparent about-face on Bharara raised questions about what changed his mind.

As our colleagues wrote, it came down to two powerful Trump advisers - Attorney General Jeff Sessions and chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon - who "wanted a clean slate of federal prosecutors and were unconcerned about any perception that the White House changed its mind about Bharara."

As U.S. attorney, Bhahara was known for going after corruption involving Wall Street interests and in both political parties.

MCCAIN CHALLENGES TRUMP ON WIRETAPPING CLAIM

John McCain is taking on Trump over his latest unsubstantiated claim.

The senator from Arizona and leader of the Armed Services Committee challenged Trump on Sunday to offer proof for his claim that President Barack Obama ordered wires tapped at Trump Tower during last year's election.

McCain joins two leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who asked the Trump administration last week for copies of "any warrant applications and court orders" related to wiretaps of Trump Tower or Trump and his associates.

"The president has one of two choices: Either retract or provide the information that the American people deserve," McCain said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

"I have no reason to believe that the charge is true, but I also believe that the president of the United States could clear this up in a minute."

Trump made his claim in a series of tweets March 4, but neither he nor the White House have offered any evidence to support it. Rather than asking intelligence officials to corroborate the allegation, Trump called on Congress to investigate it.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR TRUMP'S HEALTH-CARE PUSH?

The first big test of Trump's negotiating skills as president has arrived, and it's all about health care.

It was just a week ago that House Republicans unveiled their plan to revise the Affordable Care Act - a plan that met with widespread criticism on the right and left.

Now, as Vice President Pence works to pitch the plan, all eyes are on the conservative House Freedom Caucus as the bill faces its next set of hurdles.

House conservatives have been vocal critics of the bill, petitioning Trump and Pence for changes.

The problem is, changes that would please the hard-liners - such as speeding up the elimination of expanded Medicaid under the ACA - would probably alienate moderate lawmakers whose votes are needed to pass the measure.

Members of the Freedom Caucus seem to think the White House is "working around" House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to meet some of their demands, as our colleagues wrote.

At the same time, there are few concrete signs their demands will actually be met. That's the dynamic we're watching this week.

The next big development is expected when the Congressional Budget Office releases its cost estimate for the Republican health care plan early in the week. The report will also forecast how many people might lose health insurance if the bill is enacted.